Karl Hartmann ✝

Hartmann, whose father was a painter and brother a painter as well, studied under Joseph Haas at the Akademie der Tonkunst in Munich from 1924-27, and received guidance from Hermann Scherchen. When the Nazis gained power, he refused to have his music played in Germany and remained as an "internal exile" during the war. Hartmann studied with Anton Webern privately in 1941-2. After the war, his appointment as Musikdramaturg at the Bavarian State Opera and the founding of "Musica Viva" Festival Concerts in Munich helped revive music in Germany. He became influential and supported Hans Werner Henze, and became a friend to Dallapiccola. Although Hartmann received several honors and was invited to professor positions, he chose to remain in Munich. Despite his influential position, his devotion to symphonic form was viewed as outdated to the younger generation and is still undervalued today.